Ag News: Farm Bill Anticipation

**Anticipation is high as the ag sector watches to see if the Farm Bill gets passed before the end of the year.

Farm Bill 2018 negotiators from the House and Senate announced last week that they’ve reached an “agreement in principle” but are still working to finalize the specific language and costs.

Before that happens, a conference report must be finalized, and Congress must pass the measure in both chambers.

**The Environmental Working Group has released a partial list of the farmers who received tariff relief payments through the USDA’s Market Facilitation Program.

EWG is an environmental activist and self-described government watch dog group. The list was current up to October 31st and totals $356 million, a small fraction of the $12 billion in tariff relief and other commodity supporting payments promised to farmers over the next year.

**President Trump joined leaders of Mexico and Canada in signing a revised North American trade deal. According to agweb.com, he gathered with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on the sidelines of Friday's G20 meeting in Buenos Aires.

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Each country still need to ratify the agreement, but that may prove difficult here with Democrats taking control of the House in January.